After Mother's Pardon, Lawmaker Proposes Bill to Limit Gender-Based Judicial Judgments

Following a controversial judicial pardon granted to Monique Medeiros, the mother of Henry Borel, a Brazilian federal congresswoman has introduced legislation aimed at restricting gender-based judicial decision-making. Federal Deputy Júlia Zanatta (PL-SC) filed the bill on Friday, seeking to prohibit judicial rulings from being founded on identity-based criteria or interpretations derived from social structures.

Medeiros was convicted of the negligent homicide of her son, Henry Borel. However, the judge granted her a judicial pardon, citing "relentless persecution" against her and describing her as an exemplary mother in the sentencing. This decision has drawn sharp criticism, with Zanatta asserting that judicial rulings must be anchored solely in the law and the evidence presented in court.

“

Judicial decisions must be anchored exclusively in the law and the evidence produced in the case files.

The proposed law seeks to amend the Penal Code, explicitly forbidding the use of sex, race, sexual orientation, religion, or social status as autonomous grounds for either favoring or aggravating a party's situation in legal proceedings. In the justification for the bill, Zanatta also referenced the National Council of Justice's (CNJ) Protocol for Judging with a Gender Perspective.

Zanatta argued that administrative acts should not create interpretive criteria without the approval of the National Congress. "The central problem is not the protection of vulnerable groups. The problem is the method: administrative acts from judicial bodies do not have normative hierarchy to create presumptions, alter the burden of proof, or establish mandatory interpretive criteria without a formal law," the document states. The Public Prosecutor's Office has announced its intention to appeal the decision to pardon Medeiros.

“

The central problem is not the protection of vulnerable groups. The problem is the method: administrative acts from judicial bodies do not have normative hierarchy to create presumptions, alter the burden of proof, or establish mandatory interpretive criteria without a formal law.